When Opportunity Rolls Around

Last night I had a whole hour before me to read or watch something mindless when I got a text from Darian:  Let's skype! I readily complied. We talked for over an hour about so many things--God and discussions they have had in class and deep topics she has talked to her roommates about and all kinds of things that make our minds burn in wonder. Fascinating conversation. Her eyes sparkled and I couldn't help but be so proud of this daughter of mine who has recognized her own ability to think for herself. She has a new lease on life and her whole life to discover what life is about.

You go, girl.

Life is all about opportunity and doing our best to stay focused on the dream.

Recently I read that when life gets dull, it's time to ask a new question. It doesn't matter your age nor does it matter your job. There are always new horizons to explore, new ventures to be made. I found that fascinating.

I tend to be "fat and happy" these days. I am tired of change, I think. Roy and I have moved way too much in our day, in my opinion. When we first married, we lived in Colorado and we loved it there. In fact, we dreamed of living there until we retired--taking sunset drives along the Rocky Mountain ridges with Dr. Pepper and tea in hand on Friday nights until the day we died. But then I graduated from college and saw no hope of getting a job and my sister said, "Come out to Southern California! They are hiring teachers by the hundreds!" And so we did. Hopped in our car on a whim one Wednesday morning and made the 1000 mile trek, just the two of us, to see what could happen. You can do a lot with no kids in tow. And within a couple of days, we both had contracts making triple the money we currently made and so we journeyed back home, loaded up a small u-haul, and ventured to California for a brand new adventure. Sometimes I look back, shake my head, and think, Who does that?

But we were young; the world was at our feet. We had dreams and laughter and the shrug of our shoulders...so off we went.

But this last time we moved (from Missouri to North Carolina) I noticed a difference. I wasn't as "quick on my feet" to bounce back, to reach out to others, to become a part of a community. My resilience is waning. I need roots; it's time to settle down for good. So I guess the question is: where.
And I say that because our current house is a rental. I want to own my own home--yearn for that actually. I don't know how so I'm not making any proclamation, not saying I'm going anywhere. I'm just saying I have dreams...

Over Thanksgiving when my sister's family was here, Chas (my brother in law) told me how his cats love the cat door they installed in their home and how convenient it is. I found that rather baffling as they have a rental and in my head, a cat door is something you cut into a literal door. I expressed my surprise that they mutilated a rental house's door and the landlord didn't mind and he laughed. "No," he said. "It's a gadget that you install in a window!" He proceeded to show me a picture on google and I immediately demanded that Roy get me one. And so Roy went to work and several hours later, I had a "cat door" installed in our living room window, complete with a catwalk so the cats can reach it from the outside. It's quite clever though it looks like, in my opinion, PWT (Poor White Trash). In fact, I laugh every single time I look at it. Like...seriously???

Anyway, we have had no problem training the cats to go out the cat door. In fact, they love it. And Bax, our deaf cat, figured out rather quickly that he can even come back in the cat door! Brilliant! But Sparti? Not so much. He gets that he can go out. And so he does. And then he circles around to the patio door...and meows to get back in. So I pick him up, carry him back around to the outside entrance and show him the entrance that lets him get back in and he's like Oh!! every time. So surprised!

Every. Time.

Brilliant he's not.

And so...I don't want to be so "fat and happy" that I miss a good opportunity when it comes around. I don't want to stop asking questions.

Sometimes it's okay to simply shrug my shoulders and say... why not.